Cuesta Concord Chorus

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Upcoming Events and Concerts

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The Cuesta Concord Chorus and Orchestra Presents 

“Piano Palooza!” 

A concert showcasing the full restoration of the Templeton Performing Arts Center’s Steinway B Piano

Underwritten by Cuesta Concord Chorus and the Ann C. Coppenbarger Music Trust 

FEATURING

Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” Johannes Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzen” & George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue with Pianists Susan Azaret Davies and Ryan Hartzell and Paso Robles High School Concert Choir.

World Premier of “Where the Fleet Goes, We’ve Already Been”

Poem by Mary Golden, Music by Ron Kean

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About Us

Cuesta Concord Chorus, a community of singers, shares their joy and love of music near and far. 

Cuesta Concord Chorus (C3) is directed by Cassandra Tarantino who founded the chorus in the Fall of 2005. Through a supportive community we create music.  The music we perform ranges from Medieval to contemporary choral music, a capella, accompanied, and in various languages.  Chorus members range in age from 16-85. Our vision has grown to include domestic and international tours, small caroling ensembles, and Veteran Outreach. It is our honor and joy to sing for you.

Cuesta Concord Chorus has sung in numerous languages, including:
English, French, Latin, Spanish, German, Italian, Irish Celtic, Armenian, Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, ancient Germanic Latin, and Cherokee.

In addition to performing works from the Classical Choral Canon, the Cuesta Concord Chorus has performed major works with orchestra, including J. S. Bach’s Magnificat and full Christmas Oratorio, A. Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Gloria, and René Clausen’s “A New Creation.” In the summer of 2025, at the Voices Unite! Festival, they will produce a full scale orchestral production of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” which will be performed with community choruses from around the world.

2024 Winter Concert featuring J. S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio I," with full orchestra

"A New Creation," René Clausen with Orchestra and Soloists and Narrator

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Biographies

Cassandra Tarantino has her in Master’s degrees Choral Conducting from San Jose State University and Performance Flute from California State University, Northridge.  Her Bachelor’s Degrees are in Church Music and English Literature from Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Mrs. Tarantino has participated in music festivals as a flutist and conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in New Hampshire, Abeyrstwyth Music Festival in Wales, and Morges Chamber Music Festival in Switzerland.  She took sabbatical in Northern Ireland to study Classical and traditional music and the Irish-Celtic Language. In 2005 Mrs. Tarantino was hired by Cuesta College to begin a choral program at the campus in Paso Robles. The Cuesta Concord Chorus has since become a thriving community of singers that regularly performs locally and tours throughout the US and Europe. Mrs. Tarantino conducts, teaches private flute and voice, music theory and music history at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California.  In 2013, Mrs. Tarantino co-founded with Marcy Irving the Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan Company, a community-based opera company.  In 2017 Mrs. Tarantino was hired as the Director of Music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo. In 2021 Mrs. Tarantino completed her Level III Sommelier Exam through the International Sommelier Guild and is the Sommelier for CASS Winery in Paso Robles, California. Folk music and dance are a passion for Cassandra, and you will often find her playing and dancing traditional Irish, English Country and Contra Dance music. She loves to play with her menagerie of animals, garden, and travel the world with her ever supportive and awesome husband, Dr. Jon E. Tarantino.

Ryan Hartzell, bass and piano, and organ works as a Software Engineer at OnSpot Data. By night, he and a team of friends are developing a video game, Gazelle in a Winter Coat. He has been a regular choral singer on the Central Coast since moving to SLO in 2014 to study Computer Science at Cal Poly. While there, he joined the Cal Poly choirs, where he sang in the annual Bach Week and went on tour to sing in England, Wales, and Southern California. After graduating in 2018, he spent time in LA and New Zealand but returned in 2020. Since then, he has sung with the SLO Master Chorale, Resonance, the Symphony of the Vines, and, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo. In addition to accompanying the Cuesta Concord Chorus, Mr. Hartzell accompanies voice classes at his alma mater,  Cal Poly, SLO.

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Voices Unite!

In August of 2025, Cuesta Concord Chorus, in association with Music Contact International and Cuesta College Community Programs, produced Voices Unite! California Coastal Choral Festival, in celebration of our 20th anniversary season. 

The Voices Unite! Festival was created in honor of our beloved benefactor, Ann Coppenbager, whose generosity made it possible for us to produce a 3-day festival of free concerts at various locations around San Luis Obispo County, featuring the Cuesta Concord Chorus and two guest choirs: Trinity Methodist from Denver, Colorado, and the Coro Nationale de Puerto Rico.

As part of the Festival, we presented a full-scale production of Carl Orff’s masterwork

Carmina Burana at the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center, conducted by Cassandra Tarantino. The performance featured a 60-piece orchestra and over 150 voices that included local singers as well as our guest choirs, soloists and the Opera SLO children’s chorus.

View the concert here on YouTube: Carmina Burana - Voices Unite!